Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

So, I just beat Dawn of War 2's campaign. I got the game on Friday, and I've been putting in a few hours each day since. It... was both good and bad. It could have used a lot of improvement, but I have to say I had a lot of fun. The biggest disappointments, really, were the unfulfilled promises.

So, the good:
So, the campaign for the game was advertised as a non-linear one, where all your choices matter, where what missions you do and what choices you make in missions will affect the outcome of the game. You're protecting a set of planets from invasion by Orks, Eldar, and eventually Tyranids., playing as the Space Marines, protecting the citizens of the Imperium of Man.

The campaign, once it got started (As it had a terribly slow start), was sorta awesome. It was a lot more fun once I got my squads leveled up and the story went in to swing. Slaughtering nyds/orks/eldars by the dozens was pretty cool. The character development was kinda neat, too, actually. The squad commanders would talk about the various events and reveal their character in their interactions. Wasn't something I expected. The game *does* look amazing, I do have to give it that. And the cover system is pretty cool, even if your units do do some retarded things by trying to find cover. Like a melee squad sitting in cover, plinking away at enemy units ... with pistols. Though, the first time you see a vehicle just Koolaid Man 'OH YEAH!' through a wall, you won't help but go "... That was awesome".

The Bad: What happened to the grand RTS they promised? Where the campaign would be full of choices that actually mattered? Oh, right, that was all marketing talk. This actually equates to: Having optional missions (That don't make a lick of difference except for points (Which are entirely arbitrary) and leveling up.) and secondary objectives in missions. Yeah. Good job with the spin, there, guys.

You know how the beta only had 6 maps? ... Yeah, that's all the *game* shipped with. Really, guys? Come on. One of those 1v1 maps sucked and I've played so many times on the other one to get used to the game that I'm bored as hell of it. Eeeesh.

The wargear obtaining process, also, felt sorta... bad. Being that it is entirely random, you can get the shaft and never have good weapons for a squad. eg, I never used the Dreadnought character because I never found weapon upgrades for him. Ever.

The Different: I'm still not sure if DoW2 is better than DoW1. It's just different. Sure, it looks prettier, but it really feels like an entirely different game. The smaller number of squads, the smaller number of units per race, the no base building, the removal of morale, no reinforcing squads in the field ... It feels very, very different. Honestly, I think I would have liked a New and Improved DoW1 a bit more. Ah well.

Overall, I think it wowed me a lot less than DoW1 because it doesn't feel different enough from all the RTSes I've played before, so my feelings for the game aren't WHOA! like they were for DoW1 It's a solid game though, and will only get better as the promised DLC campaigns and maps (free!) are released.